


Last Will and Testament

by Nyarlathotep0307



Category: Bloodborne (Video Game)
Genre: Alternative Perspective, Ambiguity, Dark Souls (Video Game) References, Fights are Written to be Slightly More Dramatic, Manipulation, Morally Ambiguous Character, Partially Inspired by Grendel(1971) by John Gardner, References to Lovecraft, Retelling, Utilizes Theories about Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24530611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyarlathotep0307/pseuds/Nyarlathotep0307
Summary: What goes through the mind of a being as it faces its own inevitable Demise? Fear? Anger? Despair? What are their thoughts, the last thing that they never get the chance to say?A series of One-shots retelling the Bloodborne boss fights mainly from the perspective of the bosses themselves. Some short scenes are from The Hunter's perspective, but the majority is from the perspective of the bosses. Warning: Major Spoiler for Bloodborne in its entirety, as well as several bits of speculation based on what I know about the game's lore.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 13





	Last Will and Testament

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this is the first time I'm trying a kind of one-shot series. I hope this goes well.
> 
> As stated in the summary, a lot of speculation needed to be used for parts of this story. Bloodborne is unclear with quite a few aspects of its lore, which makes interpretation necessary to even write this. I will try to stick as closely to canon as I can in terms of character for the sentient bosses, but I cannot guarantee that it will be exactly the same.
> 
> Dramatization needed to be used with the fight at certain points to translate the gameplay better to a written work. Some small, but not that noticeable, creative liberties with the fight and it's aftermath were also taken for the same reason. 
> 
> Since The Hunter has no canon gender, I just refer to them as a "they" throughout the story to leave it ambiguous. I felt that would be something I needed to point out in case anyone thought it was a mistake.
> 
> I can't guarantee that this will update even close to frequently or regularly, but I do plan to at least do Laurence, Gherman, Maria, and The Orphan of Kos eventually. If you would like to see it, please let me know. It may help motivate my easily exhausted ass.
> 
> Italics indicate flashbacks or direct thoughts.

_ BLOOD! _

The beast screeched as it smashed more of the corpses surrounding it into a bloody paste.

_ DESTRUCTION! _

The horse-like creature let loose an insane sound that was something between a horse’s neighing and a laugh, before letting loose an ethereal white spray from the mouth embedded in its neck. The white liquid landed on one of the many piles of corpses in Ludwig’s domain, melting the very skin off the few bodies that still possessed it.

_ MOONLIGHT! _

The monstrous being smashed its horse-like snout into a nearby wall.

_ MOONLIGHT! _

It slammed it’s head into the wall again, the sword on its back nearly falling off from the force.

_ MOONLIGHT! MOONLIGHT! MOONLIGHT! _

The horse-like creature let out a laugh as it bashed it’s head into the wall repeatedly. Cracks began to form upon the blood-covered stone. The roof above him creaked and groaned for a few seconds, sounding on the verge of collapse, before it quieted down, just barely maintaining stability despite the constant abuse it endured.

_ WHERE WAS THE MOONLIGHT?! _

The being slammed it’s head into the wall one more time, before it stumbled backward, barely being able to stand on its own two feet as blood poured down from its horse-like snout. It backed up a bit more, paused for a second, and then collapsed to the ground, exhaustion filling its massive body. Unbeknownst to him, the sword on his back glowed a light green before returning to normal.

_ MOONLIGHT….Moonlight….moonlight…...where was it? Where was his moonlight…...in this accursed nightmare….. _

The beast trembled from grief, though what it felt this emotion for, it did not know.

_ Laurence…...Willem…..Simon…...Gehrman…..Maria….. _

The names seemed to suddenly appear in the beast’s head, although for what purpose even it did not know. It let out a low growl, becoming agitated at the thoughts of the names.

_ The Scourge…..the beasts….the church…..hunters….. _

The clear discomfort the beast felt was displayed with its second mouth, which continuously opened and closed, revealing the eyes that lined the inside. 

_ Grant me eyes…..grant me eyes…...ascend…..eyes on the inside of my head…...fear the old blood…….Ludwig….. _

The creature felt it’s head throb in pain and the thoughts that had suddenly filled his thoughts disappeared. A small bit of steam formed from its second mouth as it groaned and laid it’s head down in a futile attempt to rest.

It was restless, more than it had been in a long time. Something about the words popping in and out of his mind was bothering it. The more he thought on them, the harder to focus it became. Why did those words hurt so much?

If anyone had been watching at that moment, they may have seen a glimmer of something in the eyes of the creature’s main head. The slightest hints of sanity, the tiniest shred of sorrow. This thread of humanity was an odd sight to see coming from the monstrous creature. It was honestly almost pitiful, just how pathetic it was. 

But it lasted for only a moment.

Footsteps echoed through the lair, and the glimmer disappeared. Once again, the terror’s eyes glazed over with indiscriminate rage.

"Ahh, ahh, please... help us... Ah…”

The monstrosity slowly moved into a standing position on its hooves, before it slowly hobbled its way towards the sound.

“An unsightly beast…”

The accursed demon smashed one of its mangled hands into the blood puddle beneath it.

“A great terror looms!”

The menagerie of legs and hooves that covered its body started to wriggle and move in agitation.

“Ahh... Ludwig the Accursed is coming.”

The terrible beast opened the mouth on its neck, staring out at the world around it with the eyes that lined the inside. It saw nothing, however, and the mangled monstrosity turned its head, finally gazing upon the foolish invader of its domain.

“Have mercy... Have mercy upon us..."

The terror distantly noted the sound of laughter as it stared at its prey. It felt the urge to look at the source, but found that it could not tear its eyes away from the figure in front of it.

A human wrapped in a white garb stood before him. He could not tell their gender from their appearance alone, as they wore a familiar mask and hat that only left their androgynous eyes exposed. They carried themselves with an aura of boisterous confidence, one that exceeded that of any human the beast had met before. 

The accursed thing stared at the pale white clothing, something about it nagging at his mind. Almost as if it had seen it before.

The beast quickly lost interest in the cloak, however, and opened its mouth, screaming in rage at the foolish human who dared to enter its domain.

With that cry of anger, their duel began.

The terror did not hesitate for even a moment, quickly dashing forwards in an attempt to trample the invader. It would tear this imbecile apart and feed on its corpse!

Its foe seemed to disappear in a blur of movement.

The monstrosity slowed to a stop before it slammed into the wall, suddenly confused at where it’s prey had gone. It had been right in front of him, hadn’t it. Where did it g-

The beast heard the thud of something falling to the floor and suddenly felt much lighter. It turned around in its confusion, feeling even more perplexed at the sight of one of its extra legs lying on the ground.

Wha-

In the blink of an eye, the monstrous thing found it’s backside liberated of two more legs, only deepening its uncertainty. 

Where was it? Why couldn’t he find it?

The beast felt a fourth leg fly from its body, and turned just in time to see the human glance at him before dashing out of his view again.

The action elicited a growl from the insane abomination.

With practiced ease, the thing with eyes lining the inside of its head leaped into the air, clutching to the unstable ceiling in a way that seemed impossible for its mangled body. The viewpoint allowed it to leisurely survey it’s lair, giving him the chance to easily spot the confused human near where he had just been standing.

It let out a growl of visceral rage, tensing its muscles against the shaky surface-

Unbeknownst to him, this action saved the hunter’s life, a significant amount of blood and debris falling in front of them as a pre-emptive warning.

-and leaped downwards with a scream of rage, smashing into the ground beneath him and just narrowly missing the obviously shaken hunter.

Not one to lose out on a chance to press its advantage, the beast turned its neck and opened its second mouth. A white glow formed in the orifice lined with eyes, before a spray of white arcane energy shot forward at the hunter.

Barely recovering in time, they backed up just a moment too late and felt the ends of their clothing melt from the acidic substance. The hunter stumbled backward, recovering their footing just in time to dodge a barrage of swipes from the beast’s claws.

The monstrous abomination was relentless, constantly attempting to push it’s advantage and never giving the hunter a chance to breathe. Its attacks were unpredictable, erratic, and impossible to follow. Swiped mixed with jumps and jumps mixed with sprays of energy. The hunter was kept constantly on edge, leaving them little room to attack.

The hunter did what they did best, however, adapting. After a particularly powerful bite with a large amount of momentum from the beast, they took advantage of its wide-open stance to charge under it and slash at it.

It stumbled, trying to regain its footing, only to be forced further and further off its own feet by the hunter until it collapsed to the ground, unable to even stand. The sudden whiplash in posture, caused the sword on it’s back to fall in front of it, revealing that an ethereal green glow was radiating from it.

The terror raised his head towards the green light…..

…...and suddenly the beast who had once been Ludwig, The Holy Blade remembered everything.

“Ah, you were at my side all along.”

_ Ludwig tore through the pale Dragonoid with his greatsword, severing its tail from its body as easily as a heated knife cuts through butter. The being screamed in pain, before it stumbled away from him with unnatural speed. It let loose one last angry shriek before dragging itself away with copious amounts of haste. _

_ The church hunter collapsed to his knees panting in exhaustion. _

_ He had done it, he had finally chased off the scaleless beast. Even if it was not dead, it was not likely to come back anytime soon. _

_ With a grunt of exertion, the large man stood up, gritting his teeth at the sheer pain that traveled up his aching muscles. He massaged his neck for a moment and turned to leave, but paused when he noticed something embedded in the tail. _

_ An ethereal green glow shined brightly within the flesh of the severed body part. It was entrancing and beautiful, more so than anything he had ever soon. _

_ Ludwig stepped towards the tail, unable to tear his eyes off the green glow.  _

_ As he kneeled on the ground to get a better look, Ludwig could’ve sworn he heard the distant whispers of a god and it’s messengers. _

The beast slowly grabbed onto the sword with a deliberate carefulness as the memories flowed back to him like a rushing wave.

_ Ludwig closed his eyes as he gripped the sword, focusing on the whispers.  _

_ In his mind’s eye, he saw malformed and mangled white creatures. They danced within the inky darkness of his mind, making small groaning noises as the whispers grew louder. _

_ They were hideous…..yet almost cute in a way. Their malformed appearance seemed to hide a playful kindness that seemed unnatural for these….things. They reminded Ludwig of the sprites in the fairy tales his mother used to tell him.  _

_ As he watched the pitiful creations, he felt his body relax. His fear was disappearing and the tension from his fight with it. Confidence and determination started to boil within him for one reason or another, his body driving him to find and slay more beasts. _

_ Yes….that had to be guidance from these things. He must find and slay more of the foul creatures. He must truly come into his own as the Holy Blade. _

_ Ludwig opened his eyes, his inner fire burning brighter than ever, never noticing the moon god behind him who stared at his back passively. _

The beast began to stand, raising the glowing sword with him as he regained his footing.

_ Laurence stood over his kneeling form, looking more regal than a commoner like himself could ever hope to be. _

_ “Do you, Ludwig, accept your role as the first hunter of this Healing Church?” _

_ Ludwig did not hesitate with his answer for a second. _

_ “Yes, my vicar.” _

_ The sprites were truly miraculous creatures. To think that they could guide him to as wonderful a man as the one in front of him. Laurence was a natural-born leader with a noble regality to him that exceeded that of any he had met before. He could hardly believe that someone like Laurence would ever believe in a brutish, uneducated nothing of a person like him. _

_ Ludwig glanced up to see Laurence's kind smile and he knew immediately that he had made the right decision. _

_ He would serve this man until the end of time. He would dedicate his life to his dream and help him achieve it. No matter the cost, he would make Laurence’s vision a reality. _

_ The moon shined particularly bright that night, almost as if it was smiling down at him. _

The beast held the sword away from him, admiring its glowing blade.

_ Ludwig observed passively as his church hunters strung up the still-living beast on the cross in front of him. Even as it screamed an almost human-like sound of pain his expression did not change. He merely stared at it as it shrieked in agony as it’s flesh burned and melted. _

_ A bead of doubt formed in his mind for a moment. Was this truly the correct path? How did such a brutal death advance Laurence’s ascension? Why was he doing thi- _

_ Ludwig shook his head, clearing his mind. _

_ This was the right thing to do. He was purifying their souls in order to send them to the afterlife with this fire. He had failed these poor men and women in life, so he could not afford to fail them in death. _

_ After all, how could his precious moonlight sprites be wrong? _

__

“My true mentor…”

_ Ludwig raised the blade over Brador, ready to execute the traitor. He prayed that the bastard would cry and beg for mercy, something to temper his anger as he slaughtered him, but the man remained silent. He continued to sit there motionlessly in the hide of the beast he had slaughtered. _

_ Laurence’s hide….. _

_ The reminder of why he had visited this isolated cell in the first place sent a pang of grief through Ludwig, only to be quickly replaced by overwhelming rage. _

_ “Any last words, Brador?” _

_ The man did not even glance at him. _

_ “Even in death, I will protect the church’s secrets.” _

_ With a slash that was almost too fast to be seen, Ludwig decapitated the man and watched as his head rolled across the cell. _

_ In another plane of existence, a crawling chaos watched and laughed as more of the pieces fell into place. _

“My guiding moonlight..."

_ Ludwig trembled, feeling his body begin to shake as his bones started to rearrange themselves. Horse legs were bursting out of his back and his face began to elongate into a horse’s snout. _

_ Despite the pain though, the massive man glanced up at the one true friend he had left, his sword. Even now he could hear it’s whispers. Quite strangely though, when he closed his eyes, the sprites were nowhere to be seen. That had never happened before. What was happening? What had he done wrong? Why was he corrupting into a beast? _

_ Suddenly, the whispering grew, encouraging Ludwig to do what was necessary, to do what was right. It fed him honeyed words about how his sacrifice would make sure that his hunters would be the duty-bound Spartans he prayed they would be. They would ensure the Healing church’s dream would become a reality. It claimed that the two of them would pass on together. He had no reason to fear passing on. When he still hesitated though, the blade made one more claim. _

_ It promised that he would be able to see Laurence again. _

_ Ludwig lifted his friend in front of his face, preparing to do what was necessary. He raised it in the air, poised to strike. _

The monstrosity who had once been a man raised his friend in front of his face, preparing to do what was necessary. He raised it into the air, poised to strike.

And just like that, the battle between the two warriors continued.

The beast slashed his sword through the air, sending blast after blast through the air at the unknown hunter, only for him to dodge them like they were nothing. As he paused for a second to rest his arms, the hunter quickly moved in and slashed one of his legs, momentarily staggering him, before they quickly dashed away to circle him once more.

Something resembling a smirk formed on the horse face of the monstrous terror as he regained his footing.

Oh yes, this would be a truly enjoyable fight.

Their dance continued, the beast using his Moonlight as aggressively as he could, slashing away with unbelievable grace at the much smaller hunter. However, not a single slash landed, the hunter always seeming to find the small opening in the attacks he made and dashing in to slice at his legs once again. 

It was exhilarating for the monster who had lost his mind. To truly fight evenly with someone for the first time in what felt like decades.

The beast suddenly switched up its attack patterns, charging forwards himself and slashing away at the hunter at as close of a range as possible. The hunter seemed shocked for a moment at the drastic change in strategy, and took a glancing blow to their abdomen before dodging backward.

The terror pressed his advantage, not willing to give the hunter even a moment to rest. After all, if he were to die today, he would go out fighting tooth and nail to the death.

The hunter adapted to his strikes quickly though, with them easily turning their next dodge into a counterattack that utterly decimated one of Ludwig’s forelegs.

The beast hissed in pain, dashing backward and switching back to his ranged sword blasts in one fluid motion. The hunter, proving to be quite competent at the art of prediction, dodged his blasts with ease and managed to even get a slash into him before leaping back to a safe distance.

The vicious horror stumbled, kneeling for a moment out of clear exhaustion. The accursed being realized that he would truly not last much longer. His opponent was adept, merciless, and powerful, as the best hunters were.

Ludwig stood up, something resembling a smile forming on his horse-like face

This hunter was truly a being to be admired. If he was to die today, it would be an honor for it to be at their hands.

However-

Ludwig lifted his blade into the air high above his head. The hunter moved in, sensing an opportunity, but was blasted back by the shockwave from his sword gathering energy.

-he would not go quietly into the night. If this Danse Macabre, this dance of death, were to end with his demise, he would use every last bit of power he had so he could die a warrior’s death with the little dignity he had left.

The hunter stood back up a bit shakily, turning their head to look back at the terrible beast holding the glowing blade. The sword seemed to suck in its surroundings, it’s glow becoming brighter and brighter.

Ludwig tensed up his muscles-

The hunter realized what the terror was doing and quickly moved to avoid the blast.

-and slammed his moonlight into the ground. Nothing happened for a moment…..

…..and then the ground in front of the malformed thing exploded with green energy.

The area of effect was roughly that of a cone and quite massive. The strangely ethereal projectile disintegrated everything in its path, leaving not even the barest of traces behind. It was a beguiling sight, one that could hypnotize those who saw it. The beam blasted smoke into the air, fogging up the underground lair to a point where visibility was impossible.

All was silent for a moment, nothing being visible in the mist-covered cavern. Slowly, the smoke began to clear, the silhouettes of a small figure standing in front of a larger one slowly becoming visible. The two shadows were very still as the two warriors looked at the position they had found themselves in.

The beast formerly known as Ludwig stared down at the Hunter below him with a mixture of shock and relief in his eyes. His body seemed to be sagging under its own weight and nearly all of its legs were mangled to a point of being unusable. His sword was still in his left hand, frozen mid-strike.

The hunter’s fist was currently buried very deep in the flesh where the beast’s horse-like lower body and humanoid upper body met. They met the abomination’s eyes with an expression of respect and pity. Neither uttered a sound.

Without warning, the hunter tore the beast’s entrails from its body, mortally wounding it and sending it stumbling backward. The former man came to a stop and trembled for a moment more before falling to the ground, it’s body and sword all but disintegrating in a flash of light.

The hunter stayed on guard, ready to fight once again if needed, but slowly relaxed as they realized that it was unnecessary.

Their prey had been slaughtered. They had once again won.

They took a deep breath, moving forward for the briefest of moments towards a familiar lamp in the center of the toom, before pausing at a rather peculiar sight they found in front of themselves.

The silent warrior cocked their head in obvious confusion.

This- this had never happened before. When the flash of light occurred, their enemies tended to permanently disappear. How was it- Why-

The beast’s severed head lay rather pitifully on the ground. For all intents and purposes it should be dead. Yet, in spite of what should have been natural, it was still clearly breathing despite its lack of lungs.

The hunter flicked their hand over the lamp, lighting it just in case anything went wrong, and approached the severed head with a hand on the hilt of their weapon in case the beast was not done fighting.

Despite her caution though, their worries proved to be unfounded when the sorrowful horror’s eyes glanced up at them with a slightly pleading look.

"Good Hunter of the Church, have you seen the light? Are my Church Hunters the honorable Spartans I hoped they would be?”

The warrior stared at the head, confused at its inquiry for a brief moment.

Hunter of the church? Why would he…..

They glanced down at their blood-soaked Choir garb.

…...oh.

They glanced back at the beast, feeling distinctly uncomfortable from the sight of it’s pleading eyes.

The Church was a despicable organization, as were the people in it. The things they did in the name of progress made them more vicious and mad than even the beasts that wandered Yharnam. They had witnessed first-hand just how monstrous the Healing Church could be and how cruel their experiments were.

They shivered as thoughts of Iosefka and Ebrietas came to their mind.

It would be quite a monumental lie to claim that they were anything even nearing honorable. Would it really be right to ease this creature’s mind with such a lie?

The hunter looked once again into the pitiful beast’s eyes, humanity shining in them more than almost any other abomination they had slain during this horrid night. They were so full of pain, sorrow, and regret. The round orbs spoke of years, no, decades of suffering and insanity in an endless nightmare from which there was no escape. A fate worse than any death had been inflicted on this poor being, and any suffering it deserved had already been fulfilled a long time ago.

They nodded their head slowly.

The malformed head let out a sigh of relief.

“Ah….good...that is a relief. To know I did not suffer such denigration for nothing. Thank you kindly. Now I may sleep in peace.”

The creature’s eyes closed and it’s breathing slowed to a stop. 

“Even in this darkest of nights, I see...the moonlight..."

The hunter stood there for a while, not moving or reacting at all, even as a familiar glowing green sword seemed to come into existence on top of the creature’s head. The wind blew into the underground chamber brushing against their bits of exposed skin comfortingly as the sounds of dripping blood rang out throughout the cavern.

Slowly, they kneeled in front of the head, bringing up their hands and lowering their head in prayer. They spoke no words, content with merely showing respect to the deceased warrior in front of them.

After another moment of silent praying, they stood up on their feet and stared pitifully at the head. 

This Hunter’s Nightmare was truly a curse among curses. It was such a sickening fate for anyone to be trapped in, especially one who seemed as noble as this former man.

Admittedly, they did not know much of Ludwig, only just bits and pieces they had gathered from their journey through Yharnam. For all they knew, he could have been the most blood-thirsty degenerate the church had ever seen. It seemed unlikely considering the respect and honor the creature had shown during their fight, but one could never truly be sure.

Either way though, nobody, not even the most horrid of beasts, deserved to live like this. A never-ending life of slowly losing sanity for decades on end only to die like a sheep to the slaughter. Ludwig was a display of the punishment not just for those in the nightmare, but themselves as well if they did not find the source. This sadistic torture had to end.

The hunter grabbed the glowing green sword in front of them and handed it to the tiny messengers that followed them, watching as they sunk into the ground and disappeared with it.

The sword was quite an enigma. No normal blade could have cured the insanity of beast blood as if it were nothing. However, they would have to figure out that mystery later. They could not relax just yet. After all, they were a hunter-

With a careful elegance, the hunter unsheathed their weapon and began walking at an even pace towards the exit at the back corner of the room.

-and there was still much hunting to be done.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos if anyone notices what I did with how I referred to Ludwig throughout the chapter. I thought it was a neat little touch.
> 
> Anyone else find it kind of fucked up that if you are nice to Ludwig's head and he gives you the sword, you just leave it sleeping there? Surely killing him is the kinder thing to do in this situation, considering I doubt that he wants to live eternally as a malformed head sitting in the blood of the comrades he's killed. I changed just that little bit because that detail just felt so damn odd to me.
> 
> The Moon Presence likely being involved with the Holy Moonlight Sword is something I almost never see pointed out. The Guidance rune describes Ludwig getting "guidance" from "playful, dancing sprites". While they are not sprites in the traditional sense, the messengers will always dance when you upvote another player's message and provide guidance in the form of other player's messages. Also, Holy "Moonlight" Sword. "Moon" Presence. It just kind of fits together. 
> 
> We have so little to go off of when it comes to Laurence that its kind of insane. For being one of the main causes of the game's events, we know next to nothing about him. All we really know for sure is that he died as a Cleric Beast and burns forever in the Hunter's Nightmare. That is not necessarily how he died. We see several examples of the Nightmare versions of characters sustaining zero of the ailments or injuries they received in life. He could've easily died in a different way, only to be burned in the Nightmare itself. Also, I always felt that Brador's murder of a fellow compatriot mattered more than people gave it credit for. Him being the one to kill and skin Laurence would make that event more impactful for both characters and will give me something to play around with in future chapters.
> 
> Ludwig being the one to kill Brador, thus sending him to the Nightmare, is entirely my own idea. I was going for a misled paragon-type character with Ludwig and the idea just sort of....fit for me personally.
> 
> Please let me know if I made any grammatical errors. I will happily fix it as soon as possible.
> 
> Whenever I get around to it, the next chapter will likely be Laurence.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I wish you a happy and safe day.


End file.
